Sunday, 2 May 2010

May 2nd Events:1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.1230 – William de Braose - 10th Baron Abergavenny is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.1335 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England is arrested & imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason & witchcraft.1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland - becomes leader of the beginning Scottish Reformation.1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.1672 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale & Earl of March.1808 – Peninsular War - People of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation; later memorialized in the painting The Second of May 1808, by Francisco de Goya.1816 – Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg & Charlotte Augusta.1829 – Captain Charles Fremantle of the HMS Challenger, after anchoring nearby, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.1863 – Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville (American Civil War).1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.1876 – April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.1879 – The Spanish Socialist Worker's Party is founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers' leader Pablo Iglesias.1885 – Good Housekeeping magazine on sale for the 1st time.1885 – North-West Rebellion - Cree & Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife.1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.1889 – Emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II, signs a treaty of amity with Italy giving it control over Eritrea.1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.1920 – First game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.1932 – Comedian Jack Benny's radio show airs for the first time.1933 – Gleichschaltung - Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.1945 – Fall of Berlin - Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin (World War II).1945 – Italian Campaign – General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy (World War II).1945 – The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding ~ 1000 dead inmates (World War II).1946 – "Battle of Alcatraz" takes place - 2 guards & 3 inmates killed.1952 – The De Havilland Comet 1, the world's 1st ever jet airliner, makes its maiden flight from London to Johannesburg.1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with 3 stages & a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven.1964 – The USS Card is sunk by an explosion while docked at Saigon; Viet Cong forces are believed responsible (Vietnam War).1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma the 14th highest mountain in the world & the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.1969 – Queen Elizabeth 2, British ocean liner, departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.1982 – The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano (Falklands War).1995 – Croatian War of Independence - Serb forces fire cluster bombs at Zagreb.1998 – European Central Bank - founded in Brussels to execute the European Union monetary policy.1999 – Panamanian election - Mireya Moscoso becomes the 1st woman to be elected President of Panama.2002 – Marad massacre - 8 Hindus die near Palakkad in Kerala.2004 – Yelwa massacre - approx 630 nomad Muslims killed by Christians in Nigeria.2008 – Cyclone Nargis makes land fall in Myanmar - estimated 130,000 people killed & millions left homeless.